This is a tough question. The top muscle building supplement stack should be a very personalized affair. While building muscle has some general principles, each person is still an individual. Also there is always brand preference and even in some cases, one brand working better for one particular person.

So how do you decide exactly what you need?

To make an informed decision we will review the best components of a muscle building supplement stack. From there we can look at brands and options. Then it is simply a matter of mixing and matching components to obtain the best stack for you.

Primary Components

As this is a muscle building supplement stack we will focus on the absolute necessities. This means that certain supplements, while valuable to overall health, might not be included unless they help with mass.

Protein Powders – Ideally you have a high quality whey protein as well as a caesin source. Whey can be used during the day to supplement the dietary protein intake. The caesin powder is useful prior to sleep to provide a slow release of protein for your body to use during sleep rather than raiding muscle tissue for any necessary nutrients.

Multivitamin – A real multivitamin provides an abundance of vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and other things you need every day. A top shelf multivitamin is a must supplement for anyone, especially those looking to gain mass.

Pre-workout Booster – Ideally you are looking for an energy compound with an N.O. aspect to increase the muscle pump during training. As muscle pump is related to muscle size, this is a key need.

Intra-workout Fuel – Why wait to start the rebuilding process? Intra-workout fuel helps boost recovery and thus growth by providing a steady intake of nutrients to the body as you burn them off during a workout.

Creatine – If the pre-workout booster does not include Creatine then you need it. It is a proven supplement for adding muscle size and strength.

Branch Chained Amino Acids – Aminos are the building blocks of muscle. They are perfect to take during the day and post-workout to ensure that your tank is topped off with the raw materials your body needs to construct muscle. This can also be part of post-workout recovery as plenty of mixes feature a high content of BCAA’s.

Fat Burners – The unsung hero of any quality muscle building supplement stack is a fat burning component. Obviously when the goal is mass you want to eliminate the addition of fat at the same time so you can skip the trimming phase later. A good fat burning product help promotes lean muscle gain when you are trying to bulk up.

Brands and Options

It can be confusing with all of the brands and options out there for products. The general rule of thumb is to stay with the proven brands that have a solid track record of providing high quality products. The top brands to select from are BSN, Optimum, Muscle Pharm, Cellucor, and Gaspari.

If you look at the top selling products you will see these brands repeated over and over. Optimum makes a great whey protein powder and multivitamin. Cellucor has a top selling pre-workout fuel with N.O. boosters and Creatine. MusclePharm has a great slow release protein and post-workout mix full of BCAA’s.

By using top selling and proven brands you can be assured that they provide results otherwise they wouldn’t be in business. An easy way to start off is by using a single line for all of your products. Then if you aren’t getting the results you feel you should, try a new product here and there from other brands until you find the mix that is optimal for you.

A great muscle building supplement stack tends to be very personalized because everyone is slightly different. However they should all contain the same basic components if you want to get great results.